Germany

It has been a while since a leader of a German party called for the political exclusion of the head of Germany's Jews. Last week, Klaus Ernst, co-chairperson of the anti-Israel Left Party, called for Dr Dieter Graumann, the president of Germany's Jewish community, to leave "party politics" as rapidly as possible.

A deal to secure the freedom of Sergeant Gilad Shalit has been accepted by Israel, but not by Hamas, German officials have confirmed.

The comments by German government spokesman Steffen Seibert supported a claim by Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday about a German-brokered deal to return the soldier home more than five years after he was captured by Hamas.

Britain has been the main European hub for groups advocating a boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) strategy against the Jewish state. Germany, however, has enacted policies which now make it a stark rival for the UK's hardcore anti-Israel movement.